Over the years, various products have been devised for enticing children who are picky eaters to eat their meals. These products have been focused on the shape of the food generally or a peripheral toy and have not been completely effective at encouraging many children to eat.
One common product in use today is food in the shape of an animal or object to make the food visually more appealing to a child. Chicken nuggets and cookies have been successfully formed into shapes, but this type of treatment is not possible on all types of food. Specifically, this type of treatment is not possible on many vegetables and healthy foods that experts recommend that children consume. Therefore there is a need for an apparatus or method to encourage children to eat food that is not easily formed into shapes.
One common method of serving food is to give the child a small inexpensive toy with his or her meal. These toys are often designed to have a limited service life and are not intended to maintain a child's attention for more than a single meal. Therefore, there is a need for a method of serving food to children that uses a durable apparatus that can be reused for multiple meals.
The present invention provides a reusable apparatus to encourage children to eat meals that does not require the use of food designed in special shapes. To encourage children to eat, the present invention uses a series of buttons to actuate sounds and lights on a table dish designed to be pleasing to children. In an alternative embodiment, the present invention also provides a tray that can be attached to a high chair, car seat, etc. that incorporates lights and sounds. In an alternative embodiment, the present invention also provides a game dish that contains a low profile table dish with a removable toy figure and a vertical panel designed to hold a removable background image. In an alternative embodiment, the present invention also provides a toy tower dish containing a low profile table dish with a removably attached toy figure with buttons to actuate sounds and lights.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved table dish to encourage children to eat meals and a method of using the same.